Stabilizing device for ships



March 18,1930. -M, KEFELI I 1,751,278

' STABILIZING DEVICE FOR SHIPS Filed 001;. 21, 1929 4 She ets-Sh eet 1 March 1s 1930. -M ,KEFE| 1,751,278

STABILIZ-ING DEVICE FOR SHIPS Filed 001:. 31, 1929 4 sheets-she t 2 z\ N 2:: g

March 18, 1930.

KEFELI STABILIZING DEVICE FOR SHIPS 4 SheetS- -Sheet 3 &

Filed Oct. 21. 1929 March '18, 1930. M. KEFELI 1,751,278

' v STABIL IZING DEVICE FOR SHIPS Filed Oct. 21, 1929 Y 4 Sheets-Sheep 4- L 9 1' gm;-

as i N O) r2 Patented Mar 18, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT oFnca manna REE-ELI, or rears, FRANCE STABILIZING DEVICE FOR SHIPS Application filed October 21, 1929, Serial No. 401,206, and in France November 16, 1928.

My invention has .for its object a device adaptedto prevent ships frompitching and from rolling.

I have been led to find this device by con s-sidering modern steamships which due to their large size are submitted to the action not of one wave at a time, but of a series of Waves of which each individual wave causes the ship to stagger-but little, but the sum of 10 which provides enormous shocks.

inclination of the ship. This is all the easier as between each fall and rise of the ship there is always a certain slowing down of the staggering motion of the ship which may last 3 or 4 seconds on big ships. According to my invention, I use suitably "'incurved blades disposed at suitable points of M the ships hull underneath the water line.

- These blades may be given a movement of translation and their movement is determined by the angular speed of the ships oscillation either: I v

(a) By a man who ascertains the most fa- 39 vorable moment for makin the desired blades project for a few secon s through any suitable means such as a single lever and a cooperating electric switch controlling a suit r able motor which may be hydraulic, pneumatic or of any other type.-'

(b) orbyan automatic device. These two control means may be associated so that either may be used at will independently according to requirements.

3 Several years ago 1t has been proposed to use-horizontal rudders on ships in order to prevent rolling; but this attempt did not meet with success because the rudders were controlled by an automatic apparatus which allowed the total angle of'inclinat ion of the ship to be ascertained alone, instead. of the-angular speed. Consequently the action of the apparatus was delayed and ill-timed. I

Moreover it has been proved that such rud- 50 ,dersare not resistant enough for submarines they are in their inoperative position, which and cause a reduction in the speed as the? brake the advancing movement of the vesse even when in their inoperative position.

The incurved blades which I have invented show the following advantageous features:

They are very strongas their thickness may be as great as desired, without reducing the speed of the ship owing to the fact that their the blades are always held at their most fa- 9- vorable angle of inclination. The operative surface thereof may alone be modified-according to requirements. It should be noted that owing to the considerable speed of modern steamers which is ofteifiabove20 knots, the size of the blades, the surface of which is re-.- versel y proportional to the speed, may be. very small; I

Lastly, what is the most important is the fact that such blades do not brake at all when affords a great economy as will be understood from inspection of the curves of Figs. 7 and 8 of appended-drawings.

These features allow the incnrved blades to be used not only for stabilizing ships but also" for replacing; on submarines the horizontal rudders generally us ed. I

I have shownby way 'of example on apw pended drawings several forms of execution 9 .ofmy invention.

'Fig. 1 is a side view of a ship provided with a device according to my invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatical view from above partly in horizontal cross-section of the ship shown on Fig. 71 supposed provided with eight blades adaptedto -be actuated electr i-' cally from a central station through t e agency of a hydraulic control device. Fig. 3 is a partial horizontal cross-section showing the control device of the blades and position.

, casing 7 the arrangement. for separating them from the inside of the ship. I

Fig. 4 is a wiring diagram of the electric means used for controlling the stabilizing.

Fig. 5 shows the switch adapted to control the said electric means.

Fig. 6 is a cross-section through A-B of Fig. 5 of a ractical embodiment of the switch shown on ig. 5.

Figs. 7 and 8 are diagrams showing the comparative braking curves in the case of two twin blades and of a horizontal rudder mounted on a rod.

Fig. 9 is a front View of the automatic control means adapted .to be used alone or in combination with the hand-operated control means.

Figs. 10 and ll'show matic control means.

The blades which are the essential feature of the invention with their control means are shown atl, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3', 4, 4.

When inoperative they are entirely retracted inside the ship under the action of a device which controls their projection and retraction. This device may be constituted as shown on Fig. 3, by aseries of hydraulic pisdetails of said autotons 5 controlled byan arrangement afiording I the blades in the desired means for moving oclnng them in any desired direction and for These hydraulic pistons may be connected for instance with a suitable motor for .instance an electric or a steam motor. These pistons 5, the cylinders of which are shown at 6, are preferably enclosed in an air tight Fig. 3) disposel inside the ship. The casings are provided each with asluice 8 which affords means, in case of an accident orof failure, for entering inside said casings after removing the major part of the water contained therein and for cleaning or repairing whilst the ship is on the way without it being necessary to return to port for this.

The above described device is preferably actuated by an attendantable not only to note I the phenomena which occur, but also to foresee them. Thus the blades need not be con trolled-automatically and are actuated. after consideration on the attendants part before thephenomena to be avoided occur.

The attendant causes, according to the case,

the desired blades to project. If he anticipates for instance a fall of the bow and a rise of the stern, he will cause the blades 2 and 3' the Fig. 2 so as to urge the the forces of inertia. At thesame time, he causes the blades 1 and 4' to rojectso as to resist the forces of inertia which make the ship pitch. A proper control, of the. blades is suflicient to ensure, in a continuous manner,

'ermanentequilibrium of a large ship.

en the ship rolls, it is necessary, when to project as shown in w upwards in spite of I the ship has a tendency to fall towards the right, for instance, to make the blades 1, 2, 3 and 4 project; the symmetrically disposed blades will be made to project in their turn when the former are retracted with a view to possible to cause the four blades having the same incurvation to project or to retract simultaneously, according to the movement which is to be damped.

The projecting or retracting motion of each incurved blade is preferably provided by a suitable motor, the distributor 9 of which is controlled by an auxiliary electric motor '9.

The control of these auxiliary motors, the number of which is equal to that ofthe blades, is provided from a distance through the agency of a single switch to be described here-' inafter (Figs. 5 and 6)..

This switch serves not onlyfor controlling the projection and retraction of the blades,

but also for locking same in one of their predetermined positions a, b, '0, 03 corresponding toincreasing lengths of projection beyond the hull (Fig. 4.). i

The said switch is constituted by a concave spherical surface; to *each blade corresponds :a series of contacts a, b, c, d the number of which is equal to that of the predetermined positions of each blade. These series of contacts are disposed along two merldlan circles of the switch perpendicular to each other and at 45 with the longitudinal axis of the ship. Each quarter of thesemeridian circles corresponds to one of the eight blades; the contacts are disposed thereon startlng-from the equatorial line towards the poles.

The four series of contacts above the equatorial circle correspond to. the blades adapted to raise the corresponding parts of the ship 2', '3, 1', 4; the four series of contacts underneath the equatorial circle correspond to .the blades adapted to lower the corresponding parts of the ship 2, 3, 1, 4".

The series of contacts on the right of the longiutdinal 1151 plane of the switch correspond to the blades on the right of the ship and plane to the blades I are shaped contacts12, 13, 14, 15 the arfgular 7 length of which is slightly below 90. These segments are. disposed symmetrically in front of the two meridian circles whereby {they rub a a nst the contacts on the sphere whenever t e attendant gives anangular dislacem'ent tn the lever. Springs 17 are used or urging the lever 11 back into its inoperative-vertlcal position.

The switch is connected with the auxiliary motors according to the diagram shown on Fig. 4 for one blade. v

a, b, c, d are the contacts correspondingto thefo ur difierent positions of the blade asv mentioned hereinabove, whereas 15 is the ccintact segment carried by the equatorial p ane.

' When the attendant moves the control lever, the contact segment 15 engages the coni tact a' so as to close the circuit feeding the relay 1' which closes the contact a This actuates the relay R which in its turn closes the circuit roviding the automatic starting.

of the auxiliary motor 9, the latter drives the d1str1butor' 9 and the blade begins projectglow the relays 03, 1' 1%, m are each provided with a push-rod. These push-rods shown? at 32 11 1),, p, are connected with a position recorder 18. In front of the pushrods 72 12 1);, 3),, a contact 16 is adapted to move, the movement of said contact being mechanically determined by; that of the blade. Thus the contact is in front of 12 p at a, b, c or d.

When the relays r 7' 1' 1'; are operative,

the make the push-rods 9,, 12 17 p, slide an close a circuit over contact 16 when the latter comes in front of the push-rod com sidered. i

Thus when the au'xiliary motor 9 is actu-- ated through the closing of a the push-rod [2 moves into its operative position and when the blade comes into the position a, 16 will be in front of p and the corresponding circuit closed, said circuit feeding the relay R stopping the auxiliary motor. This motor v being brought to rest, the blade will remain avoid: any stop in the working of'the auxiliary motor. I A reversing switch is provided 1n the cires cuit of the auxiliary motor so as to make the 2 or p, according as to whether the blade is When the contact segment 15 passes from latter rotate in one direction when the contact 15 moves from a towards b, c and d and makes the blade project gradually and in the reverse direction when this contact moves from (1 towards c, b and a and makes the blade retract gradually.

The great advantage of the above-described switch resides in its easy control which becomes more or less a mere reflex of the attendant who has only to incline the control lever in the direction in which he wishes to incline the ship for compensating the rolling and pitching. Moreover the ac, tuation of this control lever causes at the same time the desired reaction at four symmetrically disposed opposed points of the ship, the reactions being always equal for two diametrically opposed points of the ship, which is very important for preventing the shi from following a zig-zag path.

bviously the above-described blades supposed hereinabove to be eight in number may e reduced to four, two on each side; the, blades in this case are all incurved in a manner such as will provide a rise of the ship.

It-will be readily understood,-the above disclosed arrangements are given only by way of example. For instance, the stabilizing means may be replaced by water-ballasts which may be filled or emptied at will by means of pumps or turbines controlled by an attendant or by the automatic device described hereinbelow. This provides variations in weight which counterbalance the forces of, inertia of the ship and the forces produced by the waves at the moment con?- sidered.

This arrangement of water-ballasts, though more complicated and more difficult t0 exe-' cute than the incurved blades, shows the advantage that it may be used even when the ship is stationary. This is very important for instance in the case of warships when firing.

As stated hereinabove, the hand-operated control means disclosed above may be combined with or replaced by an automatic control device, which may be executed as shown on Figs. 9 and 10 of the drawings.

It comprises a frame 18 carrying a bracket 19 disposed near the centre of oscillation of the ship; to this bracket is secured, with the interposition of a cardan joint or similar 'device, a gyroscope or'a pendulum 20, the lower part of which carries two electric contact pieces 21 and 22. Each of these contacts is connected through the leads 21', 22 to ea h of the relays corresponding to the. four bla es used formaking the ship movesay towards the rightin thecase of piece 21 and towards the left in the case of piece 22.

To the gyroscope or the'pendulum is rotatably secured at 23 an arm 24 the lower incurved end of which carries a small striated wheel 25 which rolls without sliding owing to its being striated over a spherical concave surface 26 oscillating integrally with the ship and the center of which coincides with the centre of oscillation of the gyroscope or pendulum 20.

The arm 20 carriesmoreover at its upper end (Figs. 9 and 11) a contact piece 27 which completes the relay circuits over the contact pieces 21 or 22 corresponding to the different stabilizingblades, under the action of the oscillation of the ship which causes the arm 242 to rotate towards the right or towards the left owing to the frictional contact between the striated .wheel 25- and the spherical surface 26.

It will be readily understood that all the oscillations of the ship are transmitted instantaneously to the arm 24 which controls electrically through the agency of the contact pieces 27 and 21 or 22, the set of blades adapted to return the ship into its mean position.

This automatic device comprises further, in order to prevent pitching, two contact pieces 28 and 29 (Fig. 11) disposed in a plane perpendicular to that containing the contacts 21 and 22; The contact pieces 28 and 29 are suitably connected to the differentrelays in a manner such that they cause those four movable blades to project which together damp the pitching motion.

To the spindle of the striated wheel 25 (Fig. is secured a bevel pinion 30 meshing with another pinion 30 secured to a verwith a ball regulator 32. The movable ring or disc 33 of this regulator moves in front of a series of contacts a, b, c, d suitably connected with the relays.

The variations in the angular speed of oscillation of the ship are transmitted to the regulator 32 through the striated wheel 25 and the conical pinions 30 and 30. .The greater the speed given thus to the regulator, the higher the ring 33 will rise, contacting successively with the contact pieces a, b, c, d.

These contacts correspond to increasing projections of the stabilizing blades as disclosed in full detail with reference to the hand-operated control means. Thus the amount by which the blades pro'ect will be proportional to the angular spec of the os-v cillations of the ship.

It should be well understood that the abovedescribed forms of execution are by no means ,limitative and that any desired modifications may be brought thereto within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is: j

1. A stabilizingdevice for ships comprising a plurality of blades distributed round the ship and adapted to project beyond same for impressing a stabilizing torque thereto and a control station for controlling selec- 65 tively the projection of said blades.

tical shaft 31 the top of which is provided for each blade fed through the different recontrolling said blades, electric circuits'feed- 7 ing said relays, and a switch arm pivoting round a stationary point and adapted to close selectively said electric circuit.

3. A stabilizing device for ships comprising a plurality of blades distributed round the ship and adapted'to project beyond same to a varying extent, a series of relays c0rresponding to each different amount by which each blade may project, an auxiliary motor lays and controlling the corresponding blade, a contact piece adapted'to move with the blade, means controlled by the different relays and adapted when operative to come into the path of said contact piece and means whereby said contact piece, whencontacting with'one of last-mentioned means, stops the corresponding blade in the position corresponding to the relay which has actuated the relay-controlled means considered.

4. A stabilizing device for ships comprising a plurality of blades distributed round the ship and adapted to project by varying lengths out of the ship for impressing a stabilizing torque thereto, a concave spherical surface integral with the ship, an arm adapted to pivot round the centre of-said surface and the outer end of which is in contact with said surface, stationary contact pieces the relative position of which with reference to the centre of the surface is not affected by rolling orjpitching, a regulator to which is transmitted a speed proportional to the relaftiveflangular speed of the arm over the,sur-

face, a series of contacts in front of said regulator, circuits adapted to be closed by the regulator over said contacts for increasing speeds, means whereby the arm when abutting against one of the stationary contact 5. A stabilizing device for ships comprising a plurality of blades distributed round the ship and adapted to project to a varying extent out of the ship for impressing a stabilizing torque thereto, a concave spherical surface carried by the ship, a gyroscope,

an arm pivotally secured tosame at the center of the spherical surface and the outer end of which is in contact with said surface, stationary contact pieces borne by the gyroscope, a

centrifugal regulator. to which is transmitted a speed proportional to the relative angular speed of the arm over the surface, a series ofcontacts in front of said regulator, circuits adapted to be closed by the regulator over said contacts for increasing speedsof the regulator, means whereby the arm when abutting against one of the'stationary contact pieces controls a corresponding number of stabilizing blades and means whereby the regulator circuits when energized stop the blades in the position corresponding to the 7 speed of the regulator at the moment con- 4 sidered.

6. A stabilizing device for ships compris- 10 inga plurality of blades distributed round the ship and adapted to project to a varying extent out of the ship for impressing a stabilizing torque thereto, a concave spherical surface carried by the ship, a gyroscope, an arm pivotally secured to same at the center of the spherical surface, a striated wheel ro-' tatably secured ;to the outer end of said arm and adapted to move frictionally over the spherical surface,'stationary contact pieces borne by the yroscope, a centrifugal regulator controlle by the striated wheel, a series a of contacts in front of said regulator, circuits ada ted to be closed by the'regulator over sai contacts for increasing speeds of the I regulator, means whereb the arm when abutting against one of t e stationary contact pieces controls a corresponding number of stabilizing blades and means whereby the regulator circuits when energized stop the 80 blades in the position corresponding to the speed of the regulator at the moment considered. y

In testimony that I'claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name.

85 MICHEL KEFELI. 

